Jiehao Su

Borderland is a project deeply rooted in my personal history. I spent my early twenties living a nomadic life in China, trying to escape from the sorrow of my mother’s sudden death when I was 18. After years of wandering, I began work on Borderland in 2012 as a way to look inward and recall my early memories, to reflect on my identity, and to search for a sense of belonging.
As I returned to some places in my mind, revisiting moments from the past, I construct a personal narrative with a mix of atmospheric portraits and landscape, as well as intimate still life details. Together the images comprise a quiet, delicate, and melancholic meditation on my personal history.

My aim is to rebuild my self-awareness through an autobiographical portrait of my homeland, as well as to seek comfort through reconnection to the past. In this sense, Borderland is an intimate work of remembrance, tenderness, and self-consolation.